The Rest of the Slytherins
by Swallow B
Summary: The Battle of Hogwarts seen through Slytherin eyes
1. Chapter 1

The Rest of the Slytherins

'If your son is dead, Lucius, it is not my fault. He did not come and join me, like the rest of the Slytherins."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 32.

ooo

The characters and basic plot belong to JK Rowling. Words spoken by some of the characters have been borrowed from 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'.

ooo

I

Blaise

_Human Transfiguration to and from_

_a) objects_

_b) plants_

_c) animals_

I do wish Head Boy Draco My Father Malfoy would stop pacing . Round and round and round and... He'd make me giddy if I was watching him. But I'm not.

_c) animals _(like ferrets)

Something is going on and Head Boy Draco My Father Malfoy knows it because he has the Mark. And he wants us to ask, so he paces round and round and round with a worried look on his face. It works with Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson. Not with me.

_d) humans_

_a) Objercts : When a human gets Transfigured into an object, the result will be different, according to whether the human in question is a wizard or a Muggle_

Besides, the Mark looks obscene on his delicate porcelaine arm. On my arm, it would look like engraving on a bronze plate. If that didn't make Mother respect me, I don't know what would.

_When a Muggle gets transfigured into an object..._

I know I could concentrate better if I went to the dorm to study with Nott, but I don't want Head Boy Malfoy to think he's disturbing me or something.

Besides, if something's going on and it involves the Dark Lord...

Bing, bang, oof, poof. Old Sluggy bursts in. In pyjamas. I knew something was wrong.

"Malfoy," he says.

Malfoy stands still. At last.

'He Who Must Not Be Named is on his way to Hogwarts. The students are to be gathered in the Great Hall to be evacuated."

"Why evacuated?" asks Pansy.

"Professor McGonagall's orders."

"She's not in charge," snaps Draco, in that tone of his. "What does Professor Snape say?"

Sluggy sighs.

"Just do as I say, for once."

Sluggy looks tired. It must be serious, for him to be wandering around the dungeons in pyjamas.

"Pansy, get the girls," says Malfoy.

She jumps up.

"Zabini, get the boys."

What am I, your house-elf?

I... mark... my... page... and... close... my... Trans... fi... gu... ra... tion... book.

He's glaring at me. I glare back.

I. Get. Up. And. Walk. To. The dormitories. After all, it might be an emergency.

It probably is.

I burst into the seventh year dorm.

"The Dark Lord's coming ! We're evacuating !"

Nott looks up from his book.

"Why?"

"Dunno. Sluggy said."

Quietly, he gets up and pulls on socks, shoes and travelling cloak. I bang on the other doors.

"Up, everybody ! The Dark Lord's coming ! We're evacuating !"

While they panic and scuffle, I pull on my own shoes and cloak.

"Death Eaters too?" asks Nott.

"Dunno."

His father is a Death Eater. Since he came back from Azkaban half dead, Nott has been quite jumpy.

Fathers are overrated. Especially when they're in the Death Eating business.

We reach the common room just before the great scramble. Malfoy is barking orders and everybody is running around madly. Then, slowly, student by student, Slytherin house trickles out into the dungeon corridor.

The seventh years leave last : Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and the girls, Pansy, Tracey, Daphne with her little sister and Milly with her cat. And yours truly.

Sluggy is waiting in the Entrance Hall.

"Everyone here? Did you make sure, prefects? Come on, then."

He's still in pyjamas.

Students from the other houses are filling the Great Hall. We close ranks around the Slytherin table, the Bloody Baron hovering protectively over our heads like one of the Muggles' patrol helicopters.

McGonagall is standing on the platform.

"What's she doing there?" asks Daphne. Daphne hates things and people not being in the right place.

"That's baaad," says Pansy, scratching the polish off her nails.

"Where's Snape when we need him?" grumbles Malfoy.

Professor Snape is nowhere to be seen. Nor are the Carrows. Pansy's right : that's baaad.

"You might want to hear what's going on," hisses Nott.

"Prefects, when I give you the word, you will organise your house and take your charges in an orderly fashion to the evacuation point."

"And what if we want to stay and fight !" yells Macmillan.

Please do, Macmillan. We could do with a laugh.

"They've killed Professor Snape !" whimpers a second year.

"And the Carrows?" says another.

'Where's Professor Snape?" shouts Tracey.

"He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk."

The common phrase? Done a what?

The idiots are all clapping. Now I know why we are evacuating.

"We're stuck with Sluggy," groans Malfoy.

"And the old hag," adds Pansy.

"I don't think we should call her that," says Tracey hesitantly.

"Why not? Old blood traitor, old-"

"Last time I called her an old hag, Professor Snape made me scrub cauldrons."

I am about to explain to her that her cauldron scrubbing probably had nothing to do with old McG when a high, cold voice speaks out of nowhere.

"The D-Dark Lord," whispers Nott.

Malfoy is as white as a ghost. Could this Junior Death Eater be afraid?

"Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched," says the voice. "Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."

Potter? Potter's here? Everybody is looking at the Gryffindor table and I can't believe it : bloody Potter is standing right there.

"Potter's here ! Someone grab him !" screams Pansy.

As if. What they all do is stand up and draw their wands in our direction. Milly's cat hisses and she holds onto it for dear life. If a single bloody Gryffindor sets a finger on Checkmate (that's what she calls it, though I have never seen her play chess), hell will break be fun, actually.

"Now you've done it", whispers Daphne.

"Thank you, Miss Parkinson," says McGonagall. "You will leave the hall first with Mr Filch. If the rest of your house will follow."

We certainly would, Madam Craneface.

To use the common phrase, we'll do a bunk.

No need to say, she gets called things worse than 'old hag' and Professor Snape doesn't make anyone scrub cauldrons.

Sluggy catches up with us in the Entrance Hall.

"Upstairs. Follow me."

"Upstairs?"

"Aren't we evacuating?"

"Miss Parkinson, you are a disgrace to the title of Head Girl," says Sluggy.

That really sets her off.

"They're putting everyone's life in danger just to protect Scarface's a-"

"Pansy, don't talk like a Muggle !" snaps Daphne.

"I don't care any more ! I"ll say whatever I want ! They're sacrificing the whole school for a little prig who came here knowing nothing and who think he's better than us for who knows what reason-"

"Calm down, Miss Parkinson," pants Sluggy. "He Who Must Not Be Named is on his way."

"He wants Potter, he can have him."

She's still ranting when we reach the seventh floor, long after old Sluggy has lost his breath. He stops abruptly and leans against the wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. I half expect him to collapse, but the wall collapses instead, revealing the entrance to a large room all decked up in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw colours.

"I'm not going in there," says Pansy.

"You are, if you don't want to get killed."

The Weasley girl is there, swinging on a hammock in front of a tapestry of the Gryffindor lion. She is pointing to a door on the side.

"You ! It's all because of your bloody boyfriend, you filthy little blood traitor !"

Pansy lunges at her, but Sluggy gets there first and puts a shield around the Weasley girl. He's quicker than I thought.

"In you go, in you go," he pants. "Prefects... Where's Draco Malfoy?"

Malfoy has disappeared. So have Crabbe and Goyle.

"I highly disapprove of Snape's choice of Head boy and girl," mutters Sluggy. "No time to look for them. Your safety comes first. Get the first years in."

There are a lot of first years : the Dark Lord decreed that the house system should disappear progressively, so there has been no Sorting this year. All the kids have been put in Slytherin.

Pansy doesn't want to go. She wants to look for Malfoy, but Slughorn won't hear of it. Three missing are quite enough, he says, and there's nothing she can do to hlep Malfoy. Then Milly drags her through the door into the tunnel. Milly doesn't need magic that much. She's as strong as Hagrid.

We light our wands and help the younger students down a steep slope.

'Where are we going?" asks Nott.

"To Hogwarts, then home" says Sluggy, sliding happily down in his pyjamas.

"I'm not going home," says Nott. "If there's going to be a fight, Father will be here."

"I'm not going home either," I tell them.

Mother doesn't want her honeymoon with What's His Face disturbed because her son got kicked out of school by a bunch of fanatics. Besides, What's His Face will end up like the others, so the least I see of him the better.

"The other seventh years are going to fight, McGonagall's letting them," says Pansy. "That idiot Macmillan..."

"If Macmillan and Longbottom are fighting..." says Daphne.

"And the Abbot girl," adds Milly.

"Then we should fight too," concludes Daphne.

"Fight?" repeats Daphne's little sister.

"Not you, you're too young."

"I'm only two years younger than you."

"You heard McGonagall : you can fight only if you are of age."

"Since when do you listen to her?"

"I am responsible for you. Mother and Father won't want you to fight. Tell them," she adds proudly, "that I stayed with the Dark Lord."

"Me too," says Pansy, just as proudly.

The tunnel ends in The Hog's Head. The barman who looks like Dumbledore gives us filty looks.

"Disgusting place," remarks Pansy, trying to turn up her nose like Madam Malfoy. It doesn't work because her nose is all fat and squashed.

"Now," says Sluggy, "The children must get home. I am sending word to people in various parts of the country. How many of you can Apparate?"

I find myself surrounded by a cluster of little clutching hands. I am to get them to London by side-Apparition, supposedly because the Floo is under Ministry surveillance. I don't see why the Ministry wouldn't let me repatriate these kids, but again Sluggy says, "Do as you're told," in that tired voice.

"I'm coming back," I tell him.

"We all are," says Daphne.

As I show the kids how to hold tight and turn with me, the Ravenclaws burst out of the tunnel.


	2. Chapter 2

The Rest of the Slytherins

The characters and basic plot belong to JK Rowling.

ooo

II

Milly

I had to leave Checkmate behind. There was no way I could Apparate to Dublin with seven children and a cat. As it is, one of the little girls was struggling to hold her doll, so I had to tie it my robes, promising not to lose it.

What a nightmare. We suddenly find ourselves in a dark street. We could be anywhere and I begin to worry that I might have got it wrong. I was never very good at this. What if I' d landed us in Paris or Amsterdam? I'm not up to speaking foreign languages.

A man walks over to us.

"Identify yourselves."

In English, thank God.

"Millicent Bulstrode."

"Your last Divination result?"

"I don't take Divination."

He nods, satisfied, whoever he is. Not one of the children's parents, because no one has run over to him.

"Malcolm," he says.

A little boy cringes.

"Your dad?" I ask.

He nods miserably. Maybe we shouldn't have evacuated him. Maybe he was better off... oh, who am I fooling? Everybody knows half the kids in Slytherin are abused. Three quarters of the pure-bloods, I'd say.

Then a woman appears and hugs Malcolm. Perhaps he's a half-blood.

"Come on." She shepherds the children into a Muggle car.

"My doll," says little Lucy.

I hand it over.

"She's okay and so are you. You're safe."

I hope they are.

"Are you going back?" the woman asks me.

"Yeah."

"What's happening over there?"

"We're evacuating. They're going to fight."

"Are you going to fight?"

"I s'pose."

" On... on which side?"

I shrug.

"I' m a Slytherin."

"You'd better go home."

"I can't leave my cat," I say, and I Apparate back.

I'm in the right place. Checkmate is looking at me as if to say, "What kept you?"

The place is full of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, prefects barking orders, kids all over the place. I'm glad ours are out of the way.

"Ready?" calls Blaise from the top of the stairs. The others are with him.

"Ready for what?" asks Professor Slughorn.

"We're off to se the Dark Lord," I say, taking Tracey's arm.

Nobody gets it. I didn't expect them to. For one thing, it isn't funny. For another, they aren't supposed to watch Muggle films, even old ones.

"You... You... " stammers Slughorn.

"Coming with us?" says Blaise.

"The... Dark Lord? Now listen... This isn't a game. You are much too young."

"Potter isn't too young."

"Or Longbottom. Or Macmillan."

"I know, I know... Well, actually, they are too young, much too young... But you are my students. I can't let you..."

"You'll find you can," says Blaise. He is frightening, sometimes. "We belong to the Dark Lord," he adds.

"The old hag threw us out," says Pansy. "If she doesn't want us, the Dark Lord will."

Slughorn takes a deep breath.

"I am going back to Hogwarts. Anyone coming with me? Blaise?"

"They won't have us."

"They'll use us as hostages."

"They won't."

"G'bye, Professor !" calls Blaise, skipping down the stairs.

We're off to see the Dark Lord, Checkmate running between our legs like Toto. We walk out of the stinking pub into the darkness.

It's not that dark, actually. The whole castle is lit up and flashes of wand light are moving here and there.

"The old fool is going to get himself killed at Hogwarts," says Blaise.

I feel Tracey shudder and gulp.

"They are going to die, at Hogwarts?"

Blaise shrugs.

"No one's making them stay."

"Has.." Tracey gulps again. "Has anyone ever met the Dark Lord?"

After a silence, Theo coughs apologetically.

"Well actually... When I was at the Malfoys'..."

"What's he like?"

Another silence.

"You'll see."

Tracey is having serious second thoughts, I can just tell, but she walks on, her jaw set, because she's had third thoughts too. Such as : we half-bloods must be more Slytherin than Salazar. Or something like that.

"Where are we going?" I ask, conversationally, just to show that we half-bloods aren't going to cause problems, that whatever they decide is just fine with us.

"There's someone over there," says Blaise.

A group of hooded men. Theo nearly runs to them.

"Have you seen my father?"

"Father?" says one of them. "Hey, you're Nott's son, aren't you?"

"Where is Father?"

"Somewhere around. What are you kids doing here?"

"Looking for my father," says Theo.

"We're Slytherins joining the Dark Lord," says Blaise superbly.

"Joining?"

He gives us a sharp look - for as much as I can see behind his mask.

"Come on, then."

They all follow eagerly, the pure-bloods, so we have to pretend to be just as eager. Well, Tracey would quite eager if she wasn't shaking with fear.

Me, I just follow. So does Checkmate, his tail in the air and his eyes gleaming in the shadows.

But when it's clear we're heading towards the Shrieking Shack, Checkmate runs off without a warning.

"Checkmate ! Stupid cat !"

"Not so stupid," mutters Tracey. "He must have seen a rat or something," she adds brightly.

We all know there's nothing in the Shrieking Shack. Professor Snape told us it was the werewolf Lupin's hiding place and something tells me he's in the castle now. Besides, it isn't full moon.

There's nothing to be afraid of.

It's just an old dusty, crumbling ruin.

Why is a masked Death Eater taking us there?

"Any of you have the Mark?" asks the man as we get to the gate.

"Not yet," says Blaise.

I can feel his excitement. Merlin, if they take the Mark, we'll have to do it too. I know Tracey is having second thoughts again.

The man lifts his left arm and the gate opens. We walk across what I know is an overgrown garden, though something makes me think of carnivorous plants and Devil Snare. Checkmate is definitely not stupid.

The man stops.

"Get prepared. You are going to meet the Dark Lord."

Who? I mean, how do we get prepared?

It reminds me of the night of the Sorting, when McGonagall told us to smarten ourselves up and left us in that room with the ghosts. Everybody was tugging at their hair and clothes, except me. There's no way I could ever look smart. The Hat had to take me as I was and it put me in Slytherin, which shows you can do very well just by being yourself, thank you very much. So much for smartening up.

So much for getting prepared too. He gives no instructions and no time to follow any. Tracey just has time to glance at me and put on her best Slytherin face and the man rises his arm again.

Blaise stands with his head high. So does Daphne.

It seems that wasn't the thing to do. As soon as we get inside, the man bows deeply. Everybody tries to do the same. I nearly fall flat on my face in my eagerness to look nice and humble. No one makes fun of me, which shows how serious things are.

"Leave us, Travers."

That high voice again. This time it isn't coming out of the walls. It is just here, this man's voice.

Very cautiously, without moving my head, I lift my eyes.

The Dark Lord doesn't look human. White and bald, his face is like a snake's, his eyes are like the red lights Muggles have on electric appliances to show when they're working.

You'll see, Theo said.

I see.

Next to him, floating in the air, is a huge snake is a sort of transparent bowl.

Tracey might faint. I squeeze her hand.

"Please, my Lord," says Blaise. "We are Slytherin students."

He sounds like a little kid. I don't think I have ever heard him sound like a little kid, not even in first year.

"So I see. The seventh years?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Yes, yes. I recognise young Nott. But where is the Malfoy boy?"

Theo gulps. His voice comes out in a dry whisper.

"We lost him... on the way... my Lord."

"Slippery things, these Malfoys... Of course, young Crabbe and Goyle stayed with him. Not much brains, those two. Tell me, could Draco Malfoy have switched sides?"

"Oh no, my Lord," croaks Theo.

I wish I could get him a glass of water.

"How do you know? Perhaps he befriended Harry Potter."

"He wouldn't, my Lord," squeaks Pansy.

"I hope so, for his sake."

The words come out in a hiss. People who say Professor Snape hisses have never heard the Dark Lord.

"But you, youngsters, have made the right choice. You are an honour to your families. And you," he turns to ME, "your blood is mixed , but your heart is pure."

"Th-thank you, m-my Lord," I stammer.

"Your family will get protection if you make the right choices," he tells Tracey.

She squeezes my hand so hard I can feel her nails sinking in. It's painful, but, in a way, reassuring. She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out.

"You are to join the battle," he says.

"Now !" he barks and we all jump and run out of the Shack, forgetting to bow and forgetting there might be an enchantment on the door.

They must have lifted the enchantments. As we reach the path to Hogsmeade, a high-pitched laugh gives me goose-pimples.

Tracey staggers and leans on to me. The other girls are supporting each other. Blaise is arrogantly standing upright, his nose in the air, and Theo looks preoccupied, as usual.

We have nearly reached Hogsmeade when a wailing sound breaks out and a series of explosion echo in the darkness.

"They're fighting," whispers Daphne.

"Merlin-Merlin-Merlin-Merlin," moans Pansy.

"Come on, then," says Blaise.

We leave Hogsmeade behind, getting closer and closer to the noises and the lights.

The Dark Lord sent us to fight.

"Father !" calls Theo at a group of cloaked figures who are firing curses at the castle.

No one hears him.

We stand and watch. It is like Guy Fawkes Day, when I was little and Mum laughed because I was afraid of the noise.

She was right to laugh. It was ridiculous to be afraid, then.

We're not fighting, but I'm not going to be the one to point it out. There's a limit to being more Slytherin than Salazar and this is it.

In the red and green flashes we can make out gargoyles tumbling off the roof.

At one point, several hexes meet in an ear-splitting boom that shakes the whole castle.

"Draco !" cries Pansy, tears in her voice.

A few hooded and masked Death Eaters are coming our way.

"What are you dunderheads doing here?" spits one of them.

I've never been so happy to hear that voice.

"Professor Snape !"

"Draco's in the castle !"

"Have you seen my father?"

"Your father is safe, Theodore," says Professor Snape, less angrily. "But you must keep safe too. What are you doing here anyway?"

"The Dark Lord told us to fight."

We can't see Professor Snape's face, but we can see his arms drop to his sides.

"Have you seen Vincent?"

"And Gregory?" The two other men ask.

"They're in there with Draco !" squeals Pansy hysterically.

"Bloody idiots."

We are interrupted by an allmighty roar somewhere on the left, followed by shouts.

"Over here ! The giants have made a breech !"

Giants.

"Come on, then !" says one of the Death Eaters.

"Keep with me," commands Professor Snape.

We wouldn't dream of doing otherwise.

When we reach the point where the wall and the magical protection around the castle have been damaged, Professor Snape stops.

"Wait here," he says and he joins the stampede onto the school grounds.

We gather under a tree and sit and wait.

ooo

We have sat long enough to begin to feel cold when Pansy screams,

"There !"

Monstrous spiders are spilling out of the Forest, crawling menacingly towards the opening in the wall.

The next minute, we are running faster than we've ever run in our life. I have grabbed Tracey and Pansy and I am dragging them with all my might. We run until Daphne's legs give out and she crashes to the ground. We all drop next to her.

"Bloody hell !" groans Blaise.

Now he's sounding like Weasley.

Daphne can't tell him not to talk like a Muggle. She has lost her voice.

We lie there in shock, trying to catch our breath and our wits.

Then Tracey says "Thank you", in a pitiful voice.

"Pleasure," I mutter.

Pansy's arms and knees are all scratched because she tripped on the way.

Suddenly Blaise jumps up and we do the same. A hooded figure is drawing close.

"What happened?"

It's Madam Malfoy.

"Amocrem- ...Acrotem- ... spiders !" splutters Pansy.

Madam Malfoy shudders visibly.

"Professor Snape tolds us to wait down there."

"But we couldn't with the bl- ... the Acromantula."

"No. Stay here. Have you... Have you seen Draco?"

"He's in the castle," sobs Pansy.

Another figure is staggering towards us.

"Lucius !" says Madam Malfoy.

"Narcissa... Pansy, Theodore, have you seen Draco?"

"Nooo !" sobs Pansy.

"My father?" says Theo.

But Mr Malfoy isn't listening.

"I am going to the Dark Lord. I'll do anything... "

"Don't" whispers Madam Malfoy.

"It's our last chance. It's all I can do. It's all my fault... "

"Lucius !"

He is limping rapidly towards the Shrieking Shack, a bit like Moody used to do.

"Shit," says Blaise.

"Blaise !" says Daphne weakly.

"Sorry."

"Is Professor Snape going to find us here?" asks Tracey.

"He'll find you," says Madam Malfoy distractedly.

ooo

Mr Malfoy comes back some twenty minutes later, limping more slowly.

"So?" breathes Madam Malfoy.

"The Dark Lord wants Severus."

"And Draco?"

"Nothing..."

Mr Malfoy stumbles down the hill, defeated.

This time we wait longer, quietly listening to the distant booms and screams and Pansy's sobs.

ooo

At last, Mr Malfoy staggers back up the hill with Professor Snape.

"Professor!"

"We couldn't stay down there. There were Acromantula."

"I know. Theodore, your father is at the Hog's Head."

For the first time in ages, Theo's face lights up.

"Thanks, sir."

He rushes off.

"Why aren't you going with him?"

"But the Dark Lord..."

"Just keep out of the way, then," says Professor Snape, walking away towards the Shrieking Shack

"I have to find Draco," sighs Mr Malfoy, walking off in the opposite direction.

Both disappear in the night.


	3. Chapter 3

The Rest of the Slytherins

The characters and basic plot belong to JK Rowling. Words spoken by some of the characters have been borrowed from 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'.

ooo

III

Blaise

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery."

The Dark Lord's voice makes us jump out of our skins

"I command my forces to retreat immediately."

"Thank God," whispers Madam Malfoy.

"You have one hour... I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, then the battle recommences."

Damn Potter.

"Let's go and look for Draco," says Pansy.

"We can't," says Madam Malfoy. "We'd get killed. We wouldn't even be able to get into the castle."

"Shit."

That was me. I look defiantly at Daphne. For once, she doesn't say anything .

ooo

When we walk into the Hog's Head, the pub looks empty, except for a few goats and

"Checkmate !"

Milly's cat has jumped out from under a table, a dead mouse in its mouth. She hugs it like a long-lost friend, mouse and all.

"Nott !" I call. "Theo ! It's us ! It's Zabini !"

"Up here !" answers Theo's voice.

We walk up the stairs to the room where the entrance to the tunnel is. Pansy looks at it wistfully.

"Don't even think about it," hisses Milly, sounding like her cat.

Theo is sitting at a rickety table with a fragile-looking old man. That's Theo's father?

"I vote we stay here," says Milly, dropping onto a chair that sways dangerously under her weight. "That's what Professor Snape said to do."

"Did he?"

"He asked why we weren't going with Theo."

"Can't we go home?" says Tracey in a small voice. "Where is Professor Snape, anyway?"

"In the Shrieking Shack, I suppose."

"He must have left, by now."

Mr Nott suddenly shudders and tenses, clutching his left arm.

"He is calling."

"Don't go, Father."

"I have to. He does not tolerate disobedience."

"I'll come with you, then. Where are we going?"

"To the Forest."

"Can you Apparate, Father?"

The old man's eyes fill with tears. Shit, that man's going to die. I hate men dying.

"I'll side-Apparate you to the edge of the Forest. Then you'll guide me."

"We'll come too," says Daphne.

I can't do less. It's called Slytherin solidarity. We've been taught that since first year.

Milly heaves a sigh and put her cat down.

"A' right, then... Keep away from humans. They've all lost their Gobstones tonight, " she tells it.

For the second time tonight, we get ready for a group Apparition.

ooo

The Death Eaters are assembled in a clearing, deep in the Forest.

"That's where the Acromantula came from," whispers Milly, pointing to torn strands of a huge web.

"So long as they're not here now," murmurs Pansy.

The Death Eaters are standing around a fire in the middle of the clearing. Mr Nott stumbles over to his place among them, leaning on Theo. Mr and Mrs Malfoy are there too, without Draco. I scan each hooded figure. Professor Snape must be one of those who have kept their masks on. This one? Too short. That one? Too heavy...

As we don't have a place among the Death Eaters, we stand behind them, on the edge. The Dark Lord is standing at the centre, near the fire, his head bowed. Above him, the snake is still floating in its magical case.

We are waiting for Potter.

Tracey leans against a tree, her whole body shaking.

"Are you okay?" whispers Pansy stupidly.

Tracey lifts a trembling finger and points to the opposite side of the circle.

Potter has arrived.

They're going to kill him.

A scream makes my stomach jump.

"Harry ! No !"

It's Hagrid. He's tied to a tree.

His screaming stops abruptly. Someone hexed him.

He must see us, his students, Pansy who was always making fun of him.

The silence is worse than the screams.

Potter is standing opposite the Dark Lord. Stupid Gryffindor. A rustling noise makes me turn round. Tracey has slipped to the ground.

The girls look away, but I can't. I look at Potter as if I'd never seen him, his stupid scar and stupid glasses, standing there with his stupid Gryffindor bravery.

"Avada Kedavra !"

The killing curse. I have only seen it once, when the false Moody used it on a spider. Potter fell the same way. And the Dark Lord collapsed. That caused a panic among the Death Eaters. They are all fussing around him. That woman, I have seen photos of her in the Daily Prophet. Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco's Malfoy's aunt. Pansy and Daphne often whispered about her in awe.

She isn't that beautiful.

"That will do," says the Dark Lord.

He is alive. Of course. The Dark Lord can't just die like that.

"I do not require assistance. You," he points his wand at Madam Malfoy. She twitches and cries out.

"Tell me whether he is dead."

I can't breathe. Death always does that to me.

"He is dead."

Potter is dead.

Potter. Is. Dead.

So it's over, isn't it?

"No man alive can threaten me now !" shouts the Dark Lord.

I don't get it. Why not?

"Crucio !"

The Dark Lord is playing with Potter like Checkmate plays with its victims.

Jeers and shrieks fill the clearing. I turn to find the four girls all sitting around the tree. My own legs seem to have lost all feeling. I let myself fall next to them.

"So it's over, then?" whispers Daphne.

"Can we go home?" says Tracey, trying to muffle a sob.

"Now we go to the castle and show them what has become of their hero," continues the Dark Lord.

They are untying Hagrid. I pull myself up clumsily, but the girls stay on the ground.

"Move," says the Dark Lord to Hagrid and the procession begins, Hagrid ahead, carrying Potter. Mr Nott limps along in the back, leaning on Theo.

I realise what I had been waiting for when it hasn't happened. No one has come over to call us dunderheads.

"I can"t get up," sighs Tracey. Tears are running down her face.

'Nor can I," moans Pansy. She stinks of vomit. I'm glad it isn't me.

"That was..." says Milly, but she can't find a word.

"It's over," repeats Daphne hopefully.

"I don't understand why," I mutter. "What is it about Potter?"

The girls don't care.

"I don't think it's over."

Theo has joined us. His father is sitting on a tree trunk, further on the edge of the clearing.

"I don't think they'll just give up because Potter's dead. There's going to be another battle. They'll fight over his body," he adds in disgust.

"Why?" I say.

He shrugs.

"I'm staying here with Father. If there's fighting..."

"I'll go and see what's happening," I hear myself say. "I can do a Disillusionment charm."

"Don't get killed," says Daphne.

"I'll try."

ooo

I have to walk fast not to lose their trace. Luckily, they are making quite a racket and frightening the beasts away. It's good to be alone and invisible, even though it's still dark. I walk through the Forest, trying to make my mind catch up with what is happening, going over the events of the night : the evacuation, the Dark Lord, the battle and Potter's death.

And then another memory, an incongruous one... Good word, incongruous. I wish Draco Malfoy was here, I could tell him, "An incongruous memory has come back to me."

If Draco's alive.

That would be rather incongruous.

Anyway, the memory.

My career advice appointment in fifth year. I was so very young.

"I want to be a Death Eater," I told Professor Snape.

"That's not a carer, silly boy."

"It is. You help the Dark Lord get rid of the scum and filth. You're a Death Eater, aren't you?"

We have always known. Draco told us.

"That's none of your business. Your business, Zabini, is to stop being destructive and begin to use your potential."

"I'll use my potential to serve the Dark Lord."

"The Dark Lord does not require brains. He requires obedience and devotion."

"I can give him that."

He glared at me, that glare that frightens Hufflepuffs and makes Gryffindors angry.

"It's high time you learned to think for yourself, boy, and you are going to start right now. I want you to write an essay about what you think needs to be changed in the wizarding world."

"Oh, that's easy."

It wasn't. I was glad when everybody's fathers got arrested at the Ministry. I thought Professor Snape would forget about the essay, what with finding a place for Theo to go and all that. But Professor Snape has a memory like a Hippogriff.

"I'm waiting for your essay, Zabini," he told me at the end of the year.

"I dunno what to write."

"I'll wait for as long as it takes, but I want this essay."

Since then, and even this year, though he was headmaster and had a lot on his plate, Professor Snape has had the annoying habit of cornering me when I'm least expecting it and hissing, "I am still waiting for your essay, Zabini."

Pansy made a joke out of it : "I am still waiting for your essay, Zabini." A few years ago, Draco would have joined her. He can do a good impression of Professor Snape , when he is in the mood. But he hasn't been much fun, these last two years.

I wonder if Professor Snape is still waiting for the essay.

ooo

They have stopped at the edge of the Forest. A familiar chill grips me. Dementors. Not now, please... I turn back as fast as I can until I can't feel them any more. Then I climb up a tree where I can see everything. It's like being a kid again.

I see the Dark Lord pushing Hagrid towards the castle. The snake is around his shoulders. It's impressive, lordly, to walk with a snake around your shoulders. Not at all like Milly with her cat.

Another incongruous thought pops up : Milly and the other girls huddled miserably under a tree. Professor Snape doesn't even allow girls on the Quidditch team. I never understood why. I mean, Milly is quite as strong as anyone in the team.

A terrible scream vanishes these thoughts. The Death Eaters are standing in a line in front of the castle, the Hogwarts people in a line opposite them. the woman who is screaming has long black hair. For a minute, I wonder what Bellatrix Lestrange is doing on the enemy side. But she's there, next to the Dark Lord, so who...?

I nearly fell off the tree.

McGonagall is meant to stand in a classroom with her hair in a tight bun and her mouth pinched, handing out detentions, not scream like a banshee with all that hair all over the place.

She is screaming for Potter.

She wouldn't scream like that for me. No one would.

Now other people are screaming too. Sluggy is there, his pyjamas torn and soiled. He isn't screaming, but he looks a mess.

They've lost.

As Theo predicted, they won't admit it. The idiot Longbottom jumps in front of the Dark Lord, like a stupid Gryffindor. The Dark Lord sneers at him, puts some hat on his head and sets it aflame.

He is killing Longbottom.

Before I have time to know what I think about that, a stampede under the tree makes me hang on for dear life. The centaurs are attacking. To make things worse, the giants begin to fight among themselves, or so it seems, and all I can think of is to hold tight and not fall off. Longbottom is the least of my worries.

Hagrid is yelling, "Where's Harry?"

Theo was right. They're fighting over Potter's body. Pity Theo dropped Divination. He's quite a Seer.

Giants, centaurs, Thestrals and Hippogriffs are fighting on the grounds. The wizards have disappeared into the castle. There is no more light from is chaos and darkness.

I hold on to the tree until my arms are numb. I haven't the strength to move, let alone Apparate. I am stuck up here like a stupid angel on a Christmas tree.

If I had the Mark, I could send a message to Theo's father. Or to Draco. If...

Cries of "He's alive !" suddenly burst out of the castle.

Who's alive?

I don't care any more.

All goes very quiet then, an oppressive sort of quiet, just like before the Dark Lord killed Potter, the sort of quiet when you know something terrible is going to happen. I don't know how long it lasts. I have lost count of time.

Then an almighty blast sends me flying. My head hits the ground and I sink thankfully into oblivion. A good word, ob...

ooo

"A Slytherin," says a disgusted voice.

A wand pokes at my face. I search for mine. Someone sniggers.

"We've got your wand, boy. You're not going to need it where you're going."

Morning has come. The sun is out.

"Get up."

I stumble, feeling as inept as Theo's father.

They, whoever they are, push me forward. The castle is in shambles. What used to be the Great Hall is filled with people.

The battle is over.

No need to ask who won.

"Here's the Slytherin corner," sneers the one who has been pushing his wand in my back. "You can stay here."

A group of ragged people are sitting in a corner : Mr Crabbe, Mr Goyle, Mr and Mrs Malfoy, Greg and Draco.

"You're alive," I say stupidly, thinking of Pansy.

Greg looks away.

"Vince's dead," whispers Draco and he looks away too. His eyes are suspiciously shiny.

I used to think that to see Draco Malfoy cry would make me feel good. It doesn't.

ooo

"Seventh year Slytherin students Millicent Busltrode, Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, who have been found guilty of willingly joining the ranks of Lord Voldemort in the battle of Hogwarts are awaiting trial at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry under the supervision of Headmistress M. McGonagall and Head of Slytherin house, Professor H. Slughorn..."

Milly snatches The Daily Prophet out of my hands.

"I need this for Checkmate's litter," she says.

"Your blood is mixed, but your heart is pure," she mutters as she walks away with the Prophet, " what a load of crap."

.


End file.
